Hofbrauhaus

12-28 Market Lane, Melbourne

Hofbrauhaus has been occupying the same space in Market Lane since 1968, bringing a slice of Bavarian food, biers and tradition to Melbourne for almost 50 years. They boast a range of different areas for functions and general use, including "The Bier Hall", "The Restaurant", and "The Alpine Bar", so there is something for all events big or small.

Melbourne's Market Lane

Bavarian brauhaus

Dark ale

Bretzel $5.50

The bretzel is a classic of Bavarian cuisine that I order whenever I go to Hofbrauhaus. The bretzel comes out warm and encrusted with salt, with a dish of some lovely butter, which I cant get enough of. 

Bratwurst $25.50

The bratwurst is the classic and most well known German pork sausage. All of the sausage dishes at Hofbrauhaus come with a generous serving of their house made mash, as well as a heap of their own Bavarian spiced sauerkraut with a small dish of German mustard on the side. 

The dishes from both Hofbrauhaus and Bavarian culture in general have a lot of thought in them. At Hofbrauhaus in particular, they always have a large serving of sauerkraut with their sausage dishes. Sauerkraut that is prepared in the traditional method with lacto-fermentation over vinegar is teeming with lactobacillus bacteria which not only aids in digestion of the heavy meat dishes and alcohol, but also carries a variety of other health benefits. 

Debreziner $25.50

The debreziner is described as a classic spicy beef sausage. The sausages were served on the same huge bed of smooth mash and sauerkraut as the bratwurst with German mustard and a pickle on the side. While the sausages tasted decent, it was devoid of any spice which was a slight disappointment as the sausage was described as being spicy.

The service for the night had both its ups and downs. The waitress who served us looked like she both did not want to be there and did not want us to be there. On the contrary the manager, who took care of us when we were ready to pay the bill and leave was friendly and struck up some conversation about their beer.

Food Rating 8/10

Overall Rating 7.5/10

Izakaya Yamato

2/377 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Tucked away from sight on a laneway off Lonsdale Street lies Izakaya Yamato. From the outside it does not look like much, just a small restaurant with dingy decor, but once you step inside, it feels like you have been transported to a completely different locale.

Hidden off Lonsdale Street

Akachōchin (Red Lantern)

When you first enter Izakaya Yamato you are greeted by the Akachōchin or red lanterns, which traditionally mark an izakaya in Japan.

Lovely decor

Japanese dining area

At Izakaya Yamato, you are given the option of one of the two dining areas. The left most dining area is just a general purpose area with seats and tables like you would find at any other restaurant. As you step through the dining area on the right, you are treated to a dimly lit room which is adorned with various tasteful Japanese items and decor, as well as the sunken tables which are reminiscent of the Japanese horigotatsu.

Torikawa (Chicken skin) $2.30

Nasu (Eggplant) $2.30

The grilled eggplant, or nasu, is something I come here specifically for. Although it is quite expensive at $2.30 a skewer, both the seasoning and the amount of time it is grilled for is just right, imparting a lovely flavour while keeping the texture of the eggplant.

Sunagimo (Gizzard) $2.30

While the izakaya style food and more specifically the kushiyaki that is served at Izakaya Yamato is of a decent quality, there is a definitely a steep price point. However, although the food may be more expensive than others, the combination of the friendly service and the feeling of escaping from the bustling outside city keep me coming back for more.

Food Rating 7/10

Overall Rating 7.5/10

Sakura Kaiten

61 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Sakura Kaiten is a small but popular sushi train situated in the Melbourne CBD's Little Collins street. Sakura Kaiten has been a staple of the Melbourne sushi scene for almost 10 years now and has opened a second restaurant on Lonsdale Street. Because of the immense popularity of Sakura Kaiten, it can usually be difficult to secure a spot without a long wait. Luckily I was able to secure a spot relatively quickly on a cold winter night.

Sakura

Kiki's Delivery Service

Thoughtful decor

The sushi train

Yellowtail belly gunkan $5.80

Spicy seared tuna nigiri $5.80

Toro nigiri $5.80

One of the two favourite sushi dishes I tried at Sakura Kaiten was the toro nigiri. The toro had a very light and slightly fatty flavour which almost melted into the rice as I chewed on it. The small amount of wasabi placed on top added a little bit of kick to the nigiri as it was quite light in flavour. Although the toro nigiri at Sakura Kaiten is quite satisfying, it fails in comparison to the otoro served in Japan.

Calamari with mentaiko nigiri $5.80

The calamari with mentaiko nigiri was the other of my two favourites of the meal. The spicy mentaiko was a great accompaniment to the calamari nigiri and gave it another dimension of flavour.

Jellyfish gunkan $3.80

Uni gunkan $3.80

The overall quality of the sushi I had was quite high with fresh fish and good balance of flavours. You definitely get what you pay for though, as some of the servings are quite small and the prices are a lot higher than those of other sushi trains in the city.

Although Sakura Kaiten can sometimes become incredibly busy, the service is always quick and efficient. This means that although there are a lot of customers, I have never felt like a second priority when making specific orders from their menu. 

Food Rating 8/10

Overall Rating 8/10

Boilermaker House

209-211 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Boilermaker House is the second Melbourne venue to be opened by Speakeasy Group, which is behind one of Melbourne's best Speakeasy cocktail bars, Eau de Vie. Opening over a year ago, Boilermaker House has chosen to take a more laid back and rustic feel, which extends to both the decor and the atmosphere with low lighting and bare walls.

Boilermaker House

Lonsdale Street entrance

Hundreds of whiskeys on display

As you walk into the bar, one of the first things you will notice are the 800+ bottles of whiskey on display on the back bar. But those bottles are not there just for show. With an almost as impressive range of beers rotating on tap, as well as staff with the knowledge to make the most of their massive range, Boilermaker House has cemented itself as one of Melbourne's best bars.

Rustic decor

Fresh oysters $12.00

On Wednesday they offer $1.00 oysters until they run out. Up until recently, I used to try and get to Boilermaker House early every Wednesday that I was available, as I absolutely adore oysters. The oysters come served fresh in a Laphroaig box with lemon wedges and a tangy dressing, and are a great accompaniment to their drinks menu. 

Signature venison burger $19.00

The venison burger is something I order every time I go to Boilermaker House. The thick and perfectly cooked venison burger patty served in between grilled sesame seed buns contained a crispy, fried textural element over a normal salad. While the venison burger is not the best burger that I have ever tasted, it is the type of simple burger that I enjoy and definitely in the top few burgers I have tried.

In the short year or so that they have been open, Boilermaker House has gained a reputation as one of the best bars in Melbourne. With a solid variety of food, knowledgeable and friendly staff as well as a vast collection of whiskeys and beers it is easy to see why.

Food Rating 9/10

Overall Rating 9/10

Cupcake Central

Melbourne Central, 257/211 La Trobe Street, Melbourne

Cupcake Central is a small cupcake store tucked away around the corner of the Melbourne Central food court. They boast many things, from a delicious and wide range of cupcakes and beverages, to cupcake workshops and masterclasses. I found myself here looking for a quick afternoon pick me up snack.

Cupcake kitchen

Cupcake display

More cupcakes on display!

Cupcake central

Red velvet, caramel pear crumble, PB&J and citrus earl grey

We chose to have four different cupcakes to try out a different range of flavours. The cupcakes normally cost $4.50 each but cost $17 in a set of 4. The flavours of each cupcake were well pronounced, however in some cases either the flavour of the cupcake or icing overpowered the other. The biggest culprits were the PB&J cupcake, where the icing had a delicate peanut flavour which was overpowered by the immensely sweet cupcake, and the citrus earl grey cupcake in which the citrus flavour overpowered the earl grey. Other than the flavour components, the cupcake bases were not too dry in the center, however they were slightly denser than I would have liked.

One thing I really enjoyed about Cupcake Central, that would definitely make me come back was the service. We were served by an absolutely lovely waitress who was very friendly and informative, as well as patient since we took quite a long time deciding our flavours.

Overall a great sugary pick-me-up for the afternoon. Although I could have picked a few areas that I would have liked a little improvement, most of it would just come down to personal preference.

Food Rating 7/10

Overall Rating 8/10

Pepper Lunch

644 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn

Pepper Lunch is a DIY restaurant chain that has been spreading since its creation in 1994 by chef Kunio Ichinose. With over 200 stores spread throughout Asia, they attract customers with their philosophy of providing fast and affordable, yet quality steak. As well as the ability for customers to cook the dishes themselves with their "Sizzling it your way" motto.

Pepper Lunch graciously invited us to their blogger event for the launch of their winter menu. I had some preconceptions coming into the event as I have dined at the CBD branch of Pepper Lunch before with some mixed experiences, however I was pleasantly surprised by Hawthorn store.

Hawthorn's Glenferrie Road

Pepper Lunch

Agedashi tofu

We were offered a complimentary agedashi tofu to start off the night. Although the dish lacked a couple of elements from the traditional style of agedashi tofu, it was still quite nice. The lack of the tentsuyu broth and grated daikon from the traditional dish meant that the block of tofu managed to stay crispy on the outside while the sauce drizzled on top gave it a slightly sweet and salty finish.

Onion rings

Sweet potato chips

We ordered the onion rings and sweet potato chips as the sides. The onion rings were crispy and well seasoned with a good ring of onion in the middle. They were fantastic and both my friend and I wished that we could just get a big bag of them to go. Even though the sweet potato chips were seasoned and fried well, they varied in size by quite a large margin which made some of the larger chips too firm for my liking.

Chicken katsu curry rice

I ordered the chicken katsu curry rice as my main, which is a dish that can be found on the new winter menu. A mild curry sauce was given to us in a sauce boat for us to add to the dish, which was then mixed through the rice. I loved the way that some of the rice became crispy on the bottom of the hot plate which gave it some texture, however the chicken katsu was a little on the dryer side.

Giant rib-eye

As the Pepper Lunch chain specialises in their philosophy of providing fast yet quality food and more specifically steak, we decided to try the giant rib-eye steak, which is one of their newer offerings. The steak, which is served on the signature 260° iron plate stayed both tender and juicy even as it overcooked slightly as the hot iron plate cooked the meat far too quickly. They also offer two types of sauce, the garlic soy and a sweeter honey based sauce, both of which are bursting with flavour.

Pepper Lunch is a restaurant that does what they say they do and they do it well. They advertise themselves as a restaurant which offers fast and affordable teppan steak and pepper rice dishes with quality ingredients. There are many other restaurants which you could go to if you wanted to get the absolute best steak or the cheapest food, however Pepper Lunch offers you the best of both worlds as well of a little fun along the way by allowing you to cook the food yourself.

We were invited by and dined courtesy of Pepper Lunch.

Food Rating 8/10

Overall Rating 8/10

8bit

231 Swanston Street, Melbourne

8bit is a trendy little restaurant serving burgers, hot-dogs and milkshakes, which originated in Footscray. 8bit takes inspiration for its name and style from the 8-bit video game era in the 1980s, which is shown in their decor and name. The city store also has a lot of small quirks ranging from their colour schemes to the arcade machine which, makes 8bit a fun place to visit.

8bit Swanston Street

Insanely busy night

Altered beast $10.50

The altered beast was a burger which had beef, bacon, cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, 8bit sauce and BBQ sauce. The beef was cooked nicely, it was still a tiny bit red in the center so it was still juicy. The burger was also constructed in a way which kept the toasted buns from getting soggy from the juices which was a nice touch.

Beer battered fries $3.50

The beer battered fries were a bit of a disappointment, they tasted very similar to the chips you would get at Schnitz except a little bit crispier. 

8bit is better that a lot of the fast food style restaurants available around the city. I would definitely give it a try as they make a good burger for the price, but there are definitely better burgers to be found for those that look hard enough.

Food Rating 7/10

Overall Rating 7/10